Compressed-air water-elevator.



N0. 7l2,40|. Patented Oct. 28, I902. W. IGKEE.

COIPRESSED All! WATER ELEVATOR.

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No. 7| 2,4o|. Patented Oct. 28, I902.

w. lcKEE.

COMPRESSED AIR WATER ELEVATOR.

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Patented Oct. 28, I902.

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UNIT D STATES PATENT OFFICE.

\VILLARD MCKEE, OF CHARLESTON, WEST VIRGINIA.

COMPRESSED-AIR WATER-ELEVATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 712.401, dated October28, 1902.

' Application filed April 10, 1902. Serial No. 102,211 (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, \VILLARD MCKEE, a citizen of the United States, anda resident of Air Water-Elevators, of which the following.

is a specification.

This invention is an improvement in compressed-air water-elevators, andrelates pa rticularly to the valve mechanism whereby the compressed airis admitted to the pumpingchambers and permitted to exhaust there fromin the operation of the apparatus; and the invention consists in certainnovel constructions and combinations of parts, as will be hereinafterdescribed and claimed.

In the drawings, Figure l is a front elevation of the apparatus. Fig. 2is a vertical transverse section thereof on about line 2 2 of Fig. Fig.3 is a top plan view of the pump. Fig. 4 is a detail perspective view ofone of the operating-valves. Fig. 5 is a. detail vertical section onabout line 5 5 of Fig. 3, illustrating one of the operating-valves andthe casing therefor. Fig. 6 is a detail section on about line 6 G ofFig. 2. Fig. 7 isa detail section on about line 6 6 of Fig. 2 looking inthe opposite direction from Fig. 6. Figs. 8 and 9 are detail perspectiveviews showing the inner sides of the opposite side casings. Fig. 10 isadetail perspective view of the front end of the main valve-casing. Fig.11 is a detail perspective view showing the rear end of thevalve-casing. Figs. 13 and 15 are elevations of the inner faces of,respectively, the left and right side casings. Figs. 12 and 14 aredetail cross-sections on, respectively, lines 12 12 and 14 14 of Fig.13; and Figs. 16 and 17 are detail cross-sections on, respectively,lines 16 1b and 17 17 of Fig. 15.

In the construction shown I employ two cylinders 10 and 11, whichprovide what for convenience of reference I term the pumpingchambers.These chambers are provided with valve-inlets 10 and 11 and have outletpipes 12 and 13, provided at 12 and 13 with suitable check-valves andcommunicating with a discharge-pipe 14, by which the water may beconducted to any suitable point.

Floats 15 and 16 operate in the chambers 10- and 11 and slide verticallyon rods 17 and 18,

'lllt'll are provided with upper and lower abntments 1'1",18, 17, and 18which abutments are engaged by the floats when the latter are in theiruppermost and lowermost positions in order to operatethe rods u p ordown, as maybe desired. The rods 17 and 18 may be balanced by theweighted levers 17 and 18, as shown -in Fig. 2. At their upper ends thepumping-chambers l0 and 11 communicate by the pipes 19 and 20 with theside casings, in which the operating-valves are supported and turned, aspresently described. The pipes 19 and 20 preferably communicate withchambers 21 and 22 in the side casings I and I, and the rods 17 and 18extend through the pipes 19 and 20 and connect, respectively, withcrank-arms 23 and 2i on, respectively, the valves 0 and C. In operationit is de sired that one pumpirig-chamber should be discharging as theother fills, it being understood that these chambers are submerged inthe water to be pumped and that the water will enter the said chambersby gravity and rising therein will lift the floats until they engagetheir upper abutments, at which time the floats will lift the rod andadjust the crank-arms of the operating-valves to the position shown atthe right in Fig. 2. Then when the chamber has been emptied by thepressure of the compressed air its float will engage the lowerabutmentof its rod and will operate the said rod to adjust the crank of itsoperating-valve to the position shown at the left in Fig. 2. In Fig. 2the chamber at the left is shown as filling, while the chamber at theright is shown discharging, the chamber at the left being aboutone-sixth filled, while about one-sixth of the contents of the chamberat. the right has been discharged. By the valve mechanism presentlydescribed I control admission of compressed air to one chamber todischarge its contents, while the airin the other chamber is exhaustingas such chamber fills with water.

As shown, the construction includes two similar main valves A A, acontrollingvalve B, similar operating-valves C and O, and casings forsaid valves connected and operating as will be understood from thedrawings and following description. The main valves and thecontrolling-valve operate within what for convenience of reference Iterm the mainvalve casing, while the operating-valves operate in sidecasings I and I, secured alongside the main casing and communicatingtherewith in the manner described. The purpose of the main valves is tocontrol the passage of compressed air to and from their respectivepumping -.chambers, and in doing this they are caused to establish communication in one position between the supply of.

compressed air and their respective pumping-chambers and in their otherposition to establish communication between their pu m ping-chambersandthe exhaust, so compressed air will be admitted into thepumping-chamber to discharge the water therefrom, and then when saidwater has been discharged the main valve corresponding to such chamberwill be readjusted to permit the air in said pumping-chamber to exhaust,so the said chamber can refill as desired. I arrange the main valves soone will be supplying compressed air to its pumping-chamber while theother valve is discharging .the exhaust-air from its chamber, theoperation being practically continuous, as will be understood from whatfollows. The purpose of the controlling-valve is to prevent the passageof compressed air to the main valve of one pump-- ing-chamber until suchmain valve shall have been adjusted into position to feed air to itschamber and the opposite main valve has been adjusted to full-exhaustposition, and I accomplish this by connecting the cylinders for the mainvalves with the cylinder for the controlling-valve, as will be presentlydescribed. The purpose of the operating-valves is to control thepositions of the main valves by permitting the passage of compressed airto one or the other ends of the said main valves, according to thepositions of the operating-valves. The operating-valves rock intheircylinders, while the controlling-valve and the main valves aremovable longitudinally in their cylinders.

The casing E for the main valves and the controlling-valve is shown indetail in Fig. 10 and is provided with the cylindrical openings a, a",and b for the valves A, A and B,-

has an inlet-port E in its top centrally between its ends andcommunicating with the chamber 1), and an exhaust-port E in its lowerside centrally between its ends, which communicates by branches 6 and ewith the valve-chambers a and a. In its front end the bodyE of the maincasing has grooves or channels F and F, which communicate by ports orpassages f and f with the feed-port E and receive the supply ofcompressed air therefrom and extend at their outer' ends at F and F tothe opposite edges of the casing E and communicate with ports orpassages in the side casings for the controlling-valves. At its frontend the chamber a communicates, through a port G, with the chamber b,while the rear end of the chamber a communicates, through a port G, withthe rear end of the chamber b, as shown in Fig. 11. Ports H and H areformed in the front end of the casing.

E and lead outwardly, respectively, from the chambers a and a to theouter edges of the casing E, and similar ports h and h lead outwardlyfrom the opposite or rear ends of chambers a and a to the sides ofthecasing E. The side casings I and I for the valves 0 and O fit attheir inner sides against the opposite sides of the casing E, and frontand rear end or cap plates M and N are applied to said casingsE, I, andI, as shown in'the drawings. The side casings I and I are alike exceptthat they are rights and lefts. I will describe the casing I, (shown inFigs. 8 and 13 and at the left in Fig. 2,) and the description thereof,in connection with the main casing E, will suffice to an understandingof this feature of my invention. I In the face iof the casing I, Iprovide grooves .I, K, and L, which form passages for the compressedairand are elongated in the direction of length of the casing I and all ofwhich communicate with the chamber for the valve 0. The grooves K and Lextend to the front end of the casing I and communicate, respectively,with the passages H and F, so the compressed air supplied through thepassage F will be conducted by the groove L and delivered, through aport L, to the chamber for the valve 0. The valve C may be an ordinaryrocking valve suitably ported for adjustment in one position to directthe compressed air supplied through port L' through the feed port K andpassage'K to the passage H to operate in front of the valve A or in theother position to deliver the compressed air supplied through the port Lthrough the feed-port J to the passage J whence it will be deliveredthrough port it to operate in rear of .the valve'A, as will beunderstood from Figs. 8 and 10. It will be noticed from Fig. 9 that thecasing I is similar, to the casing I and is supplied with passages j, k,and Z, corresponding to the passages J, K, and Let the casing I. Thepassages J and K are provided with exhaust-ports J 2 and" K and the.valve 0 is suitably constructed to properly exhaust in the operation ofthe apparatus. 1

In the operation of the described construc tion if the valves 0 and Oare adjusted to deliver the-compressed air supplied through the passagesF and F through the passages IIO into register with the port 2 of thecasing I 1 V and also into register with-the feed-port 3, registeringwith the port4 of the controllingvalve, so the compressed air will passfrom the port E directly to the chamber at the ticed that each of thevalves A and A has a feed-port and an exhaust-port. The feedport of thevalve A is in rear of its exhaust-port, while the feed-port of the valveA is in advance of its exhaust-port, so that if the valves be pushedback from the position shown in Fig. 2 to their rearmost position thevalve A will be adjusted into feed position to deliver compressed air toits pum pingchamber, while the valve A will be adjusted to exhaust, itbeing understood that in the operation of the device when one chamberempties just as the other is filled the valves A and A move back at thesame time and to the front at the satne titne; but if one chamber fillsbefore the other empties the valves C or C of the said filled chamberwill be adjusted to move its corresponding main valve end wise; but theother main valve will remain in position to supply its chamber withOOlIlpressed air until such chamber has emptied.

. This is effected by the controlling-valve B,

which is movable back and forth in its chamber b, which chatnber bcommunicates at one end through a port G with the valve-chamber a and atits other endthrough a port G with the valve-chamber a. It now the valve0, for instance, is adjusted in its casing I to supply air through thepassages K and H to the front end of valve A, such compressed air willpass through the passage G to operate on the front side of the valve B.This pressure of air in front of the valve B would tend to force saidvalve to the rear'except for the pressure supplied to the rear of thesaid valve B throughthe adjustment of the valve 0 to supply air throughthe passages j and h to the rear end of chamber a and thence through thepassage G to the rear end of the valve B. Thus the pressures on theopposite ends of the valve B will neutralize each other and the saidvalve will remain in its fixed position until the valve 0', in thepresent instance, will be adjusted to exhaust the'air from the rear endof the valve B through the passages G, h, and 7', so the pressure infront of the valve B will force said valve back. It will thus beunderstood that the purpose of the valve B is to control the sup-- plyof compressed air or the passage of such air to one or the other valve,so the main valve of one pumping-chamber will not receive compressed airuntil the other pumpingchamber has entirely emptied.

The valves 0 and C are supplied with crank-handles O and P, so they canbe conveniently operated to any desired position in starting the pump orat any other time desired, asin case the valves should by moving thepump or from other cause become displaced.

In operationit will be understood the chambers 10 and 11 are submergedand the opera tion proceeds as before described, ohe chamber emptying,as at the right in Fig 2, while the other fills, as shown at the left insaid figure. If at any time the level of water should fall, the water inthe chamber which is emptying, as at the right in Fig. 2, will bedischarged and then both chambers will fill to the level of the waterand the pump will stand at rest until the water rises high enough toagain start the'pump by the engagement of the floats with their upperabutments 17 or 18. At such time both chambers 10 and ll will be full,and the chamber 10 will pro ceed to empty, provided the chamber 11 wasthe last to discharge, as would he the case in the position of partsshown in Fig. 2, and the operation will then proceed with the chanthers10 and 11 discharging alternately, as desired.

While I have shown my pump as a double chamber pump, it will beunderstood that th invention may be carried out in a single chamberhaving its operat ing and main valve, and itwill also be understood thatif in the use of the double pump one side should for any cause becomedisabled the pump can proceed to operate as a single pump.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A Water-elevator comprising the pair of pumping-chambershavinginletanddischarge openings, the 'fioats operating insaid chambers, the operating-valves, means for operating said valves bytheir respective floats, the main valves and the controlling-valve, thecasings provided with chambers for said valves and with feed and exhaustports and with ports or channels for the passage of compressed airthrough the controlling and main valves to the pumping-chamber and forthe passage of pressure controlled by the position of theoperating-valves for moving the controlling-valve and main valves intoditferent; positions substantially as set forth.

2. The combination of the main-valve casing, having a chamber for themain valve, and having ports or passages leading to its outer edges, andformed in its ends, the main valve in said chamber, the side casingprovided in its inner face with ports or passages leading to its ends,and fitting at its inner side against the side of the main-valve casing,the end plates or caps fitting against the ends of the main-valvecasing, and the side casing and closing the ports or passages therein,and the operating-valve,substantially as set forth.

3. The combination with the main valveand its casing, having ports orpassages H and h on its ends, the operating-valve and its casing,provided in its inner side with passages K and J registeringrespectively with the passages H and h in the main-valve casing, the

passages F and L being provided for the passage of pressure to theoperating-valve, substantially as set forth.

4. The combination in a water-elevator of the main valves, thecontrolling-valve controlling the passage of pressure to said mainvalves,the operating-valves and means whereby the said operating-valvesmay be operated, ports and passages being provided whereby theoperating-valves control the passage of pressure to adjust the mainvalves and the controlling-valve to different positions substantially asset forth.

5. The combination of the main valves, the controlling-valve, the casingfor said valves provided at its ends with passages or channels' for thepassage of pressure to the opposite sides thereof, the operating-valves,the side casings therefor having chambers for the operating-valves andfitting alongside the main-valve casing, ports or passages beingprovided between the side casings and the main-valve casing for thepassage of pressure to and from the operating-valves substantially asset forth.

6. The combination with the main-valve casing having chambers for themain valves and for the controlling-valve and having ports connectingone end of one main-valve 'chamberwith one end of the controlling-valvechamber and the opposite end of the other main-valve chamber with theother end of the controlling valve chamber, the main valves and thecontrolling-valve operatingin their chambers and means for controllingthe passage of pressure to the main-valve chambers whereby'to operatethe main and controlling valves substantially as set forth.

7. The combination of the main-valve casing provided with chambers forthe main valves and the controlling-valve and having ports F and F forthe passage of pressure to the operating-valves and ports h and H and hand H for the passage of pressure to the opposite ends of the main-valvechambers and provided with the passages G and G, the

main valves, thecontrolling-valve, the operaiing-valves, and the sidecasings having chambers for the operating-valvesand provided with portsor passages communicating with the passages F F H, H, h and h,substantially as set forth.

8. The combination with the main-valve casing having chambers for themain valves and for the controlling-valve and having ports or passagesleading to its outer edges and formed in its ends, the main andcontrolling valves, the side casings and their valves, such casingsbeing provided in their inner faces with ports or passages leading totheir ends, and fitting at their inner sides against the opposite sidesof the main-valve casing, and the end plates or caps fitting against theends of the main-valve casing and the side casings and closing the portsor passages thereinsubst-antially as set forth.

9. The improved pump herein described, comprising the pumpingchambers,their floats, the main valves, the controlling-valve, theoperating-valves, means whereby the floats operate their respectiveoperatingvalves, and the main-valve casing and side casing havingvalve-chambers and ports or passages whereby the operating-valves cancontrol the passage of pressure to effect the adjustment of the mainvalves and the controlling-valve to dilferent positions substantially asset forth.

WILLARD MCKEE.

